Professional Music Video Review

As we are finishing up our music video unit, one of the assignment was to analyze a professional music video and give our thoughts on it. I chose the song "Happier by Marshmello ft. Bastille" because it is one of the songs stuck in my head right now. The lyrics of the song are something I feel are very strong just because it is talking about constantly wanting to make someone else happy.

The Story

The story being told is about a young girl who was not popular through school. She was one that was left out a lot and picked on, not popular. Her dog was one she relied on to make her happy because she was always accepted by her. There as a bond formed with her dog that changed her emotions in her home life. The story is shown through chronological events and aging shown in the video. 

My work 

The video shows a story that is crystal clear. It is not something you have to guess what's going on, everything is really clear because they directors took one simple concept and expanded it through the shots shown, not the actual story. That would be what I need to put into my own work. Usually I start with a concept that grows and grows until there is too much to even film. I try to put a lot of events in to tell a story and tiny amount of time when I need to work on telling the story through my shots. After watching this, the use of medium shots really helped convey the emotion of the character. We use those a lot in eComm which is something I fell is already added into my work. 

The Creator 

Within this, like I have already said - they did an amazing job telling a clear and simple story. It was straight to the point, nothing was confusing. The color theory was very good as well which I would like to give a round of applause on due to the simple fact yellow just represents happiness. There wasn't much I was critical on when watching this video simply because this is a song I really enjoy so it's difficult to depict things I do not like. Almost everyday someone in eComm hears me say "if the video has a dog in it, it automatically has my vote". I could have lived without the dog passing away in the video but in order to have to story be complete I understand why it was done.

Conclusion

I think watching a lot of these professional music videos allows us to really think about the stories being relayed and how well they go with the music. The story is the biggest part and the take away aside from the words being sang. As I have already said, I love this video just because it is one of my favorite songs at the moment. It makes me happy to watch the video, and considering it is called "Happier", I feel it was executed correctly. 

Music Video Reflection

Our music video unit has now concluded and this one seemed to be a lot more hectic than I remember from sophomore year.

The Process 

Originally starting there were four people in our group: Addie, Evan, Reece, and myself. The concept started with the song "Dancing Queen by ABBA", and it was going to be more of a seventies vibe. Reece and I started playing around one day and decided we wanted to take the video a different direction. We split our groups and began planning another video, "Brother by Kodaline". 

Concept 

While this is not my story to tell, I was apart of the video process. Reece has a brother when he was younger that passed away from a drowning accident so we wanted to do a remembrance video in Logan's honor. The song was something that meant a lot to Reece so I really wanted the opportunity to be apart of the video. We had out favorite Alumni, Abbey Heller, help us with the cinematography on the video and I did the editing. Reece, of course, took the role as the director and also the main actor. 

Pre-Production/Production 

This portion of the video I was not a big part of. Reece had a solid idea in his head he was keeping to himself, and when it came to the filming it was something that he and Abbey did on their own. Looking back on it, I would have preferred to be there to do the cinematography. Much of the shots filmed were shakey or dark, and there were not a plethora of shots to work with which made editing limited. 

Post-Production

When I was finally able to get my hands on the shots, the editing process became a lot smoother because everything went by really fast. I spent a Saturday afternoon editing it and was able to pull the whole video together to the best of my ability. The biggest complications that came from editing was the shaky shots. Warp stabilizer did no justice in this case and actually made the shots look worse so I had to shorten a lot of the shots as much as possible to avoid the look of warp or shakey-ness.  

Take Aways: 

Learning Curves: 

Re-doing another music video made me realize a few different things: music videos are not my strong suit in eComm, editing shots I did not film seems to frustrate me a lot more than I thought, and there is no way to create a perfect music video. 

I think the reason why I struggle with music videos is because much of what I gear my interest in towards video is very serious. Common issues going on within the world, client work for information, nothing that really allows to me know how to loosen up and film people having a good time. When it comes to editing, I prefer to do editing and cinematography because I'm familiar with all the shots that I am editing already. I know what sequence I want them in, as well as a couple additional shots for things like B-roll which would have really helped the video featured below. Finally, the biggest thing that I think I struggle with on all my projects in the idea that there is a way to make the video perfect. There is not! There will always be people that don't like your video, and you can not always please everyone which is hard for the perfectionist portion of me to understand. The more projects I spend editing the better I get about understanding is that all I can do is my best and that's the mind frame I need to keep. There is always room for improvement, but the perfect video does not exist and it is not one I will be able to create.

For the Future: 

Given the opportunity, I would like to redo another music video, all by myself as an assignment because I want to see how it would turn out if it was only my view on things. I think everyone has their own idea of the ideal music video and their own view on what is visually pleasing to the eye. However, when it comes to any group project, I know the planning and time management is something that could always be improved. There are a few people in our class that I think do a very good job at keeping everything in order when it comes to planning and production. I am very good at getting everything organized but actually making everything follow plan during the shoot is where I lose my drive. After watching all the videos though and hearing the concepts I am extremely impressed with how well other eComm students did. I was so impressed with show many of the videos turned out. While it's easy to criticize as well as ignore my own video, I was very impressed with two videos from the afternoon eComm class: "Youth" and "Awake my Soul". It was so impressive to see how good of a grasp my other classmates have when it comes to making music videos, or videos alone.

Conclusion: 

There are many things from this that can help me grow. Taking the feedback and putting it towards my next video, learning from my peers videos, as well as asking for help when needed. They are small things but in the long run they are always things that will make a big difference in the long run which I think is the most valuable take away form these projects. 

Senior Year Commercial

Now that senior year has started, the first assignment due was a commercial. I had a group of four people made up of two juniors and two seniors. Hadley was our art director, who turned into the cinematographer. Carson was our cinematographer that turned into our actor and editor, Nathan was our editor that assisted Carson with the final project, and I was the director that helped with the acting as well as additional camera work.
We chose to take an HP laptop as our product because this year we will be moving to the 1-to-1 at Olathe Northwest so we wanted to do a little bit of advertising around that. The whole concept came from Misson Impossible. We did not have a script when it came to this video, we just had a storyboard to plan out our shots.

The group wanted this video to be intense, but also be a little cheesy just out of the fact that the viewer doesn't quite understand why the character is running. The concept originally started out with the idea that Mac was better than an HP because that is what we, eComm, use for our entire program. Once the planning began we quickly realized that we were trying to shove too much into one minute of screen time and we needed to make something more simplistic.

Pre-Production - 

After the groups were assigned, coming up with an idea took place. At first, we weren't completely sure what to do but we all knew we wanted it to be something popular so we ended up taking a laptop to film with. We made storyboards and decided we did not need a script because we wanted it to just be an action blurb. From there we starting planning out everything that needed to take place. From there everyone took on a production role, and I took on the director.

Production - 

This was the hardest part for our group due to the fact that not everyone was going to be there no matter what day we chose to film. Our actor did not show up three different days, so finally on the last day, we chose to film, three out of the four of us just knocked out the project. Carson ended up having to be our actor, and Hadley ended up doing cinematography instead of art direction so there was a switch up of roles right before production actually began. 

Post-Production - 

Carson and Nathan took on all of the edits, this was the time that I was very hands off for a big project. Hadley and I would check in with the guys to make sure they were sticking to the storyboard as well as editing it to how the whole group originally saw the vision. Much of the time spent on editing and the "post-production" phase was used for working on my website as well as planning different video projects I am taking this year. 

Five Guarantees: 

Technical Skills - 

This project no one in the group really took the time to learn anything new, it was all from what we remembered from last year. The most "technical" things got, was when Hadley and I worked the camera together to make sure we could get the focus right. 

Communication - 

The communication within our group seemed to be an issue because not everyone could be there on the day we had discussed and our actor did not show up one time. He canceled multiple times which happened to create stress that was not needed. 

Leadership - 

Hadley and I were the ones that really took leadership on this assignment, the guys were pretty hands off and not really involved. 

Collaboration - 

When assigning groups, it was more of a "collaboration" than previous projects done in eComm. We meshed groups together to bring in new ideas.

Project Management - 

Aside from the communication problems, this project went really smoothly. We were integrating with the new class of juniors, and it was our first assignment. 

General Thoughts:

Improvements - 

After receiving feedback from the class, a lot of valid points were made. Our video is difficult to identify what we were advertising. It bounces around a lot between shots, and it is kinda all over the place. I would want us to go back and rework the story a little bit, or maybe change the product in general to something we could make more comedic as opposed to action base. 

Conclusions - 

I enjoyed the new connections I made with the group on this project. Smaller things like this are what I am hoping to get better at as the year progresses. This is looking to be a very good one and I think the new insight coming from the juniors is going to help us have a really strong feature film this year. 

No Film School - Unit Production Manager

No Film School is a website that provides students and aspiring film makers with information based on specific topics. In my previous blog post, I talked about what it was like being Unit Production Manager on The Kansas City Savior. Today on No Film School, I read about what it really means to be a Unit Production Manager and learned a few things.

1. Unit Production Managers are what make the ship sail in pre-production and post-production.
2. They're main job is to manage the budget and make sure spending doesn't exceed too much
3. Unit Production Managers are in charge of hiring the casting director and whoever else is needed on set.

When it came to being Unit Production Manager on the Kansas City Savior, I was not in charge of a budget or anything like that due to the fact I was a student. We had our own casting director within the crew so that was already taken care of for me. However, I do believe I did a good job keeping things going as smoothly as possible due to the fact that I made sure things were extremely organized. Overall, I do feel as if I completed my job as the Unit Production Manger on the crew of the Kansas City Savior.

KC Savior Reflection

Starting back in October, the entertainment class began working on treatments and building scripts. Along the way, we developed the Kansas City Savior which turned into our feature film. The story was created by Keenan Capps, our director, whose vision was to recreate a sixties superhero sitcom in modern time.

My Role: 

For the Kansas City Savior, I participated as the Unit Production Manager. Initially, I was to help keep track of budgets, scheduling with the actors and help keep things organized but it turned in to a lot more than that. I helped rewrite the script as well as find and contact different locations. I was part of a team we called the “Core 7” that worked to pull the film together. There were days when it came to filming that felt like everything that could have gone wrong, did. Our production team had moments where everyone was stepping on each other’s toes and arguing over what should happen, but we all wanted the same thing: a quality feature film that we would be proud of.
Along the way, I was able to learn how to manage/work with outside sources, such as actors and different locations. I was able to build upon my communication and team building skills which is beneficial for anyone no matter the production team role. I also learned how important it is to be open-minded because when we initially started, I was not involved in this film at all. I had no interest in it, but after the first month, I started putting all of my free time into making sure this would be good.
My overall opinion towards the film was that as a class, we could have done much better. eCommunications teaches us skills that freshman film majors in college would not know and we are only in high school. The Kansas City Savior was a film that I felt did not accurately reflect what our program is about. As UPM on this project I know I could have done better when it came to getting all the call sheets out in advance and place ahead of time that way our actors were more focused, and I could have also put my opinion out there on how I thought the film could be better. There was always a fear of starting an argument or hurting someone’s feelings which would not have been productive at all, so more often than not it was easier to let the director execute his vision as opposed to everyone else’s.

Building the Kansas City Savior: 

When making the Kansas City Savior, my time in class was spent in “Core 7” meetings, making call sheets, brainstorming plot, as well as getting in contact with actors and different locations to approve filming dates and times. Most days in class it was hard not to be busy. From Mid-November to the beginning of April, there was always work to do on the film. Most of it was preparing and getting things organized for different shoots. When I finished early, the rest of my time was usually used as a study hall or completing other assignments for eComm. However, during this time, I was not doing any of my films outside of school. There was nothing personal that was done because I did not have the motivation to take my work home. After working on the Kansas City Savior all morning, my time at home was used to catch up on school work, my job, and time with friends and family. It has been quite a while since I’ve gotten the opportunity to work on something I choose to. Over the summer I plan on making at least three different videos so that I have my work on my reel that I’m proud of. I plan to continue and work on my eComm skills outside of school aside from the fact it is not my choice of career.

Strengths: 

Inside the program, my strengths include Communication, Leadership, and Technical Skills. One thing that I love about eComm is that it’s entirely okay for people to express who they are through projects. There are no limitations to the work that we do, the genre we produce or the editing skills we choose to use. Communication is a big part of my life, aside from my shy side, I am very much a “social butterfly” when it comes to things I’m interested in, as well as when I’m with “my” group of people. The leadership aspect has always been a trait of mine in every project. I like being in charge of situations because that’s where I’m most comfortable. Not being the director on this project did help me learn how to take a step back, and let someone else take control even though now that the project was finished I’m not thrilled with the outcome. Planning is what I’m very good with. Organizing and keeping things in order is what I excel at because it keeps things moving smoothly and everything has a place and knows where to be and what to be doing.

Improvements: 

Collaboration and Project Management are the two guarantees that I struggle and usually need improvement. While I like being in charge, I also tend to make decisions on my own without consulting the rest of the group of people I’m in. When it came to working on the Kansas City Savior in class, it was easier for me to take a step back because to some extent I was in charge of the movie. I took the lead over actor contact, working on the script, making things organized for everyone- all of this made it easier not to be the only one in charge. It helped in not only in class but also in life outside of class. It was easier to realize that I can not be in control of every situation and that I do not always have to be the one giving my ideas. Project management was also more comfortable to some extent while working on this because the crew relied on me to have my things done on time so having that good pressure in class allowed me to make some improvements in quality and not slack off.

Summary: 

The evening of the premiere, I loved being able to see everyone dressed up and seeing all the parents watch our work. I very much enjoyed “The Hidden,” as someone from a different class; I was so proud of how well the afternoon class did. A lot of times in class, it feels as if we are in constant competition with that class, and that kind of discourages a lot of us because there were only a select few who were interested in making things look good. With that thought aside and being able to watch their work, I felt proud to be in the eCommunications program even though I was not able to help make that feature film.
When it came to the Kansas City Savior, I loved being on set. My favorite day was being in Downtown Kansas City for filming. I love the river market with my whole heart and being down there with Cyle, and George made that the best filming day in my opinion. I also liked the bonds that were created with some of my classmates in the process of filming these last couple months. Some days we were really at each other's throats, but it didn’t change the fact we all do love and care for one another.
Next year, my overall goal is to have an equally as good movie as the other class at the premiere. I also would want everyone to be happy and get to participate as much as our directors' team did because as the UPM, I know the editors and a few other people among the class that was interested in the filming process felt left out. Keeping the crew small and allowing everyone in the class to participate seemed to be the hardest thing because we legitimately had to choose who was not allowed to go based on jobs that were assigned back in November.
After making this, I do feel like I learned a lot, and not just about film. All of our actors were such unique and fun individuals who were open to sharing their lives and experiences they have had. Gordon Lamb, a mentor for all of us, taught us so many great things that I’m sure people who are in film school don’t have the opportunity to learn. There was a day we were filming a fight scene, and he had sat down and talked to me about his life outside of film, and it’s those personal sharing experiences which create the best memories and have the most significant takeaways.

Final Thoughts: 

This was a great experience, and I am genuinely thankful for it. I lost myself this year when it came to eComm and lost what initially got me excited about the program. Next year is a new year though, and I am looking forward to a fresh start even though I’m losing some of my favorite people: the seniors in our class. The friendships made, the new skills learned, and the incredible people I got to meet this year make me thankful for Olathe Northwest, inside the program and outside of it. The support from parents, friends, and teachers who all encourage us to follow out our dreams as well as put in the hard work to make our projects look good are the best boost of confidence, and that’s one of the beautiful things about the program and our school. I will be interested to see how things turn out next year in the program, but I do know that while I lost what I loved along the way, I believe I will get it back once we have a fresh start.